Research: Storing, Planting, Harvesting

Perhaps because I’m a big nerd and I think these kinds of things are interesting, I’ve been reading about the growth cycles of fruits, vegetables, grains, and beans. By extension, I think that makes people who are interested in gardening nerds — you know, they’re nerds who garden, just like nerds who play video games, or nerds who like airsoft guns or replicas of European swords.

Now, I’ve played Harvest Moon before, and I own a copy of The Farming Game (it’s kind of like Harvest Moon meets Monopoly, I suppose), and I’ve played Agricola, but I threw into question pretty much everything I thought I knew about germination, and growing seasons, and harvesting because I was interested in information.

Specifically, I was interested in how long it takes to make seeds into food — from the ground to the dinner table, as it were. I want to plug the numbers into my developing game so I can account for growing seasons in addition to everything else that I track with numbers and stuff. Don’t look to Dungeons & Dragons, though … just don’t.

After over an hour of useless searching on Wikipedia (admittedly not completely useless, because it led me to an article called the “Neolithic founder crops” which proved highly informative),I pretty much gave up for the day … almost. I mentioned my research to my mom, who recommended websites that sold seed, like Burpee.com. Now, I won’t discount my Wikipedia search, but Burpee was a lot more useful.

I got some good numbers that should help me with exactly what I’m looking for — a starting place, at least. I have some ideas about how much space it takes to set up a garden, how much effort goes into taking care of fruits and vegetables (and beans…), and I can start crunching them into something more … uh, “palatable.”

Have you ever wanted to be a multiclass hunter/gatherer? Give me another couple years, and I might have the game for you, and for your friends who want to play Harvest Moon, but also kill orcs, giants, and trolls. It’s going to be awesome.